Chennai's traffic and its transit system are notorious. Here's how some visitors experienced The shock of arrival

Friday May 25, 2012 4:03 Anand Venkateswaran

4:04

Anand Venkateswaran:

The ACoP will join us in just a minute.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:04 Anand Venkateswaran

4:05

Sanjay Arora:

Hello. greetings from Chennai Police

Friday May 25, 2012 4:05 Sanjay Arora

4:05

Anand Venkateswaran:

Welcome sir. A barrage of questions already waiting for you

Friday May 25, 2012 4:05 Anand Venkateswaran

4:05

[Comment From Guest Guest : ]

My question is regarding the new dark film removal from cars as per the supreme court order. DO we have to remove evn those which are approved by the RTO has to be removed?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:05 Guest

4:06

Sanjay Arora:

Nice to hear that. Ready to answer them all.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:06 Sanjay Arora

4:06

Sanjay Arora:

The MV Act does not talk about approval from RTO. The Supreme Court order is clear that sun control films of any variety cannot be pasted on the glass.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:06 Sanjay Arora

4:07

[Comment From Antony Antony : ]

I have a couple of questions (a) who do we get in touch with if "one-way" "no-entry" sign boards are missing from places it used to be earlier or if signals or not working, and (b) why is the government, police or judiciary not taking any steps to regulate auto fares in the city

Friday May 25, 2012 4:07 Antony

4:08

Sanjay Arora:

You're welcome to report at 044-23452362, 103, or SMS at 9500099100

Friday May 25, 2012 4:08 Sanjay Arora

4:08

Sanjay Arora:

The auto fares are to be regulated by the Transport Commissioner's office

Friday May 25, 2012 4:08 Sanjay Arora

4:09

Anand Venkateswaran:

Sir, when is the regulation likely to happen?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:09 Anand Venkateswaran

4:10

[Comment From Vijairaj Vijairaj : ]

Sir, People travelling wrong side are posing a big risk - what is the plan to tackle this nuisance.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:10 Vijairaj

4:10

Sanjay Arora:

To reiterate, parking on the road is permitted only if the specified area is prescribed for it. The decision is taken based on volume of traffic and road width available.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:10 Sanjay Arora

4:11

[Comment From Raghvendra Jain Raghvendra Jain : ]

What should be immediately done when a traffic police cop demands money without receipt to let us go , or stops us for indefinite time at the side of the road to 'question' . How do we know what should be our legal rights in such case . Can we ask him to let us go , if we dont have money for fine/bribe and really in rush .

Friday May 25, 2012 4:11 Raghvendra Jain

4:11

Sanjay Arora:

This year, we have booked 46,823 such violators (wrong way travel). We keep checking randomly.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:11 Sanjay Arora

4:12

Sanjay Arora:

We can complain on our Facebook page or ring the earlier mentioned numbers or call any one of the traffic officers.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:12 Sanjay Arora

4:12

ganant:

Do you assess enforcement success on the basis of rising number of cases registered, fines collected or actual decline in offences?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:12 ganant

4:13

Sanjay Arora:

We do not consider enforcement as success till the visible violations on the road come down substantially. At present, we do not consider that has happened.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:13 Sanjay Arora

4:14

[Comment From senthil senthil : ]

Is there a strict law in place for helmets? has it been enforced properly?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:14 senthil

4:15

[Comment From vinod vinod : ]

Sir, in which website can we find the list of fine charges. Because many times constable say the fine amount is Rs.500-1000 and end up taking bribe of Rs.100-200. But the actual fine for that offense would have been Rs.50 only. so please educate people regarding the list of actual fine applicable. this will reduce corruption. thanks.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:15 vinod

4:15

Sanjay Arora:

The helmet law is in place since 1989. The traffic police keeps rotating its resources for enforcing different laws.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:15 Sanjay Arora

4:16

Sanjay Arora:

All information regarding fines can be found on our Facebook page.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:16 Sanjay Arora

4:16

[Comment From Raghuram Raghuram : ]

Sir, many drivers do not know the actual use of HIGH BEAM lights and use it in busy roads and this is a nuisance especially for driviers travelling in opposite direction.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:16 Raghuram

4:16

Sanjay Arora:

True. Dazzling lights is a problem. This year, we have booked 13,730 such infringements.

A thumb rule is that light should not dazzle your eyes at a distance of 8 meters.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:17 Sanjay Arora

4:18

Sanjay Arora:

I appreciate your suggestion. The traffic police would be made active after some time. Right now, we are struggling with overwhelming responses on our Facebook page by all of you.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:18 Sanjay Arora

4:18

Sanjay Arora:

traffic police website would be made active* [Correction]

Friday May 25, 2012 4:18 Sanjay Arora

4:18

[Comment From Shirshendu Shirshendu : ]

Gud evening sir... ! Am 15, to reduce the traffic congestion, our governments has been taking drastic steps, but instead of investing money for bridges, why cant lane system as in foreign countries cant be introduced?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:18 Shirshendu

4:20

Sanjay Arora:

In some cities in our country, the dedicated lane for buses (BRTS) has been experimented. While making Mount Road as one-way, we have also tried to give one lane to buses in a dedicated manner, so as to encourage use of public transport which will have an impact on decongestion.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:20 Sanjay Arora

4:20

[Comment From Antony Antony : ]

how many cases of excess fare by auto drivers have been registered in the last 12 months

Friday May 25, 2012 4:20 Antony

4:22

Sanjay Arora:

Last year, 4,006 cases were booked and this year 2,654 cases have been booked. This year, in total, 67, 486 violations have been booked against autos for various infringements.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:22 Sanjay Arora

4:22

[Comment From jayaraman v s jayaraman v s : ]

why are the traffic police not removing auto-stands which are not authorized?

Sir, My complaint is against auto drivers who tamper with silencers, causing noise pollution. I find more than 90 % of autos have tampered with theri silencers.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:24 Harish

4:24

[Comment From GMR GMR : ]

Why is that the police hasnt done anything about the pavement shops in Chennai esp T Nagar. There are rumours about bribery for allowing shops on pavement. If you are a honest department why is this happening and what has been done about this?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:24 GMR

4:24

Sanjay Arora:

There are 65,110 autos, 10,467 share autos and 5,349 TATA magic vehicles on Chennai roads. There only 150 authorised stands. But over the years, more than 500 stands have come into existence.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:24 Sanjay Arora

4:26

[Comment From Janardanan Janardanan : ]

In wide roads, build islands in the middle at pedestrian crossings for the pedestrians to wait and cross. This will help both the pedestrians and the vehicles.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:26 Janardanan

4:26

Sanjay Arora:

There are many different kinds of infringements by various road users. The traffic police has to keep rotating its priorities and limited resources to cover all kinds of infringements. It is physically not possible for us to focus on everything all the time.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:26 Sanjay Arora

4:27

Sanjay Arora:

Your suggestion with regard to pedestrian crossing is good. We'll work on it.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:27 Sanjay Arora

4:27

[Comment From Kumar Kumar : ]

Drag racer have been a deadly menace in Chennai of late, what are the steps you have taken to curb such incidents?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:27 Kumar

4:28

Sanjay Arora:

We regularly conduct speed checks during lean traffic periods on Beach Road, ECR, OMR. We specifically focus on weekends and holidays. Even with our best efforts, it is very difficult to continuously check on all roads all the time.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:28 Sanjay Arora

4:28

[Comment From Jayachandran Jayachandran : ]

Sir, What are we trying to do by building flyovers ? I have observed nearly three to four flyovers and no one is using it !

Friday May 25, 2012 4:28 Jayachandran

4:28

Sanjay Arora:

We have deployed 16 laser speed guns for this purpose.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:28 Sanjay Arora

4:29

[Comment From SN SN : ]

Are any steps likely to be taken to install handicapped-friendly zebra crossings, i.e. low-level switches to request crossing signal, audio support for visually impaired etc?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:29 SN

4:29

Sanjay Arora:

I think the Highways and urban planners would be the right people to answer this question.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:29 Sanjay Arora

4:29

Julie:

How many of the CCTV cameras at traffic signals work? If you spot an offender on the CCTV, do you track down the vehicle number and take action?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:29 Julie

4:32

Sanjay Arora:

I appreciate your suggestion on zebra crossings. Traffic in our city is of heterogenous nature. The requirements of different road users are widely different. It is quite a challenge to arrive at a balance among the requirements of al the users. Pedestrian have different requirements, fast moving vehicles, slow transport vehicles, everyone projects different demands on us. Whichever system we design will not be suitable for everyone. Still, we try to design systems which suit the majority.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:32 Sanjay Arora

4:32

The Hindu Business Line:

Why is there no information on RTI contacts the traffic police web site?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:32 The Hindu Business Line

4:33

Sanjay Arora:

At present, traffic police has only 17 cameras which have connectivity to the control centre. These cameras are of analogue variety. The violations are noted manually by the traffic staff and challans are generated. By the end of this year, we hope to deploy automatic challan generating cameras at large number of signals for automising the whole process. The government has sanctioned us money for this purpose.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:33 Sanjay Arora

4:34

The Hindu:

Sir, is there any action being taken on the unauthorised auto stands that have come up?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:34 The Hindu

4:34

Sanjay Arora:

The respective Deputy Commissioners of Police are the PIOs for traffic police. There are four DCs in traffic police.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:34 Sanjay Arora

4:35

Sanjay Arora:

As I mentioned earlier, the traffic violations and violations on the road come under the purview of traffic police. The regulation of autos is handled by Transport Commissioner's office.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:35 Sanjay Arora

4:36

[Comment From Kumar Kumar : ]

Auto drivers have been fleecing us. When will auto meters be standardized like Mumbai and Bangalore, where the passenger are given a rate card..

Friday May 25, 2012 4:36 Kumar

4:37

[Comment From Lata Lata : ]

The traffic police collected over Rs.14 crore in fines last year. What happens to this money? Why don't you use the money to fix traffic signals, draw zebra crossings and install pedestrian signals?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:37 Lata

4:37

Sanjay Arora:

I would request you to ask this question to Transport Commissioner because the traffic police is not authorised to fix rates or regulate the meters. Our job is that once these things are finalised, we charge the autos if they do not obey these rules. Making rules is not in the purview of traffic police.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:37 Sanjay Arora

4:38

[Comment From Jaisuresh Jaisuresh : ]

Why does not the traffic police stop any MTC buses that never care for any traffic signals or rules?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:38 Jaisuresh

4:39

[Comment From Raghuram Raghuram : ]

Sir, we want our city to be truly world class. How can youngsters like me help you to improve the system?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:39 Raghuram

4:39

Sanjay Arora:

All the fine collected throughout the city forms the Road Safety Fund. The Fund is distributed to all the district traffic police in the state for buying road safety equipment including traffic signals, median markers, road delineators, road marking paint, barricades, etc. This year Chennai traffic police have been allocated approx. 4 crore from this Fund. We are in process of buying 30 new traffic signals.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:39 Sanjay Arora

4:40

[Comment From Balakrishnan Sitaraman Balakrishnan Sitaraman : ]

Good Evening. Speed limit differs from road to road. Is it possible to put up sign boards on all important road such as OMR, Palavaram-Thoraipakkam link road

Friday May 25, 2012 4:40 Balakrishnan Sitaraman

4:41

Sanjay Arora:

The traffic police would like to enlist support from citizens if they are willing to either spend their time or their skills with us. I agree with you that lot needs to be done. We would welcome support from any citizen who is willing to spare his/her time on the road or their creative skills to help us in bringing awareness and designing various systems.

Can you give a contact number for citizens interested in volunteering with the traffic police?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:43 Julie

4:43

Sanjay Arora:

Your suggestion is good. We are in the process to rationalise the speed limits road by road.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:43 Sanjay Arora

4:43

The Hindu:

Sir, what action is being taken against MTC buses that flout traffic rules. Most often they jump signals.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:43 The Hindu

4:43

Sanjay Arora:

This year, we have booked MTC drivers on 2,216 occasions.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:43 Sanjay Arora

4:44

Sanjay Arora:

23452261/263 - for volunteering with traffic police

Friday May 25, 2012 4:44 Sanjay Arora

4:44

[Comment From Srikumar Natarajan Srikumar Natarajan : ]

Mr. Arora, I have two specific issues that I would like to bring up here - One - Sometime ago, the CCTP resorted to letting traffic waiting at signals to use both sides of the median to turn/proceed. It has not become a menace. Many vehicles blatantly drive on the wrong side of the median and wait for the lights, thereby endangering the lives of the motorists who are on the correct side.So much so that two, three and four wheelers have now started doing this and the policemen on duty seem to be turning a blind eye to it. This is setting a really dangerous trend. What is going to be done to curb this MENACE?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:44 Srikumar Natarajan

4:45

[Comment From Antony Antony : ]

MTC bus violations are paid by the drivers or by MTC?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:45 Antony

4:45

Sanjay Arora:

We have permitted using the wrong side of the median.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:45 Sanjay Arora

4:45

Sanjay Arora:

We have NEVER permitted.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:45 Sanjay Arora

4:46

[Comment From Bharathkumar Bharathkumar : ]

If interior roads of Chennai could be topped up and used to relieve traffic congestion for the ongoing Metro Rail projects, why wasn’t such an option not thought of all these days for peak hour traffic situations.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:46 Bharathkumar

4:46

Sanjay Arora:

We send infringement tickets to MTC. They deposit the fine amount after some time. The recovery from the driver is their internal administration.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:46 Sanjay Arora

4:47

Sanjay Arora:

We are in regular touch with civic authorities for improvement in road conditions.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:47 Sanjay Arora

4:47

[Comment From Capt Balakrishnan Capt Balakrishnan : ]

Many singnals in Chennai such as one in Adyar Ambika Appalam junction don't give any indication of right signal going off. It just stops abruptly and goes off. Is it possible to modify to show red after the green goes off. This will enable many new users to not to jump signal inadvertently.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:47 Capt Balakrishnan

4:48

[Comment From Raghavendran S Raghavendran S : ]

Good Evening. In many countries Geographical Information System (GIS) is used for traffic and transportation planning and management. What is the status/ plans for Chennai?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:48 Raghavendran S

4:49

Sanjay Arora:

We have noted. We will get it rectified. As the traffic signals are used 24/7 throughout the year, the wear and tear is high. At any given point of time, 5% of signals remain down. We take 2 days time to repair signals if the fault is minor, and it takes about 3 weeks in case of major cable faults.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:49 Sanjay Arora

4:50

Sanjay Arora:

We have recently deployed a road accident investigation system which would plot the accidents on digital map for generating patterns so that corrective measures could be taken. The system is at nascent stage. It will give results only after some time.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:50 Sanjay Arora

4:50

[Comment From Seshadri S Seshadri S : ]

I am frequest traveller to Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkatta & Guwahati. I must say that the traffic designing mainly during peak hours is good & always improving. Thanks & I feel proud to be in Chennai.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:50 Seshadri S

4:51

Sanjay Arora:

Thank you very much. I will convey your appreciation to my traffic personnel who spend lot of time in sun, working hard to ensure that citizens are put to as little inconvenience as possible.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:51 Sanjay Arora

4:51

Anand Venkateswaran:

Participants please note: The chat closes in 10 minutes

Friday May 25, 2012 4:51 Anand Venkateswaran

4:52

[Comment From S.Karthik S.Karthik : ]

Sir, My question is regarding the pedestrians. What sort of criterion is applied before turning any stretch of road into one-way, which essentially makes it no-way for pedestrians. And do you have any interaction with Chennai Corporation to suggest pedestrian cross-overs in roads that have granite medians. A case in point is Anna Nagar Second Avenue - once a pedestrian paradise, now no more

Friday May 25, 2012 4:52 S.Karthik

4:53

[Comment From Sunil Sunil : ]

It seems to be relatively easy to get away by bribing the on duty traffic officers. On one occassion, I saw a man saying that he is related to one of the senior police officers and the traffic officer had to let him go even after a serious amount of alcohol in his breath!!!!! How do you intend to address this anomaly?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:53 Sunil

4:55

Sanjay Arora:

Recently, we have made few road stretches as one-way. The decision was forced on us due to the Metro Rail project coming either on those roads or in the vicinity. The MD CMRL Mr.Rajaram has been quite sensitive to the needs of citizens and they have tried to provide lot of infrastructure in terms of signages, temp medians, they have employed marshals to guide people. I agree that these systems have brought certain hardships but without these changes, the restriction put on the road space would have brought more inconvenience. We will take a second look on your suggestion to improve the pedestrian facilities in these areas once again.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:55 Sanjay Arora

4:56

[Comment From Achal Achal : ]

Sir, what is the rule regarding venturing on our car/bike beyond midnight? I have noticed that many times, 24 hour tea stalls are raided by the police and customers are thrown out. Sir, if a customer is not drunk and is no threat to the law and order and just enjoying tea, is he/she breaking the law?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:56 Achal

4:57

ganant:

As a comment, would like to request that roads leading to transport hubs, such as railway stations and bus termini must allow for easy walking, least encroachments. CCTP has not acted on this despite many requests.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:57 ganant

4:58

Sanjay Arora:

The traffic police personnel are part of the society. They have grown up with the same biases, prejudices which are prevalent in our society. I agree that policemen should have higher moral standards. But this is not possible in isolation. As the society matures, the rate of delinquency within the police force would also come down. We have our own internal vigilance mechanism to keep these issues at low levels.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:58 Sanjay Arora

4:58

The Hindu:

Sir, how is the rule about speaking on mobile phones while driving interpreted? If a commuter is waiting at a traffic signal and is on the phone, then is he/she violating the law?

Friday May 25, 2012 4:58 The Hindu

4:58

Sanjay Arora:

There is no prohibition on usage of road at any time of the day or night.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:58 Sanjay Arora

4:59

Sanjay Arora:

Encroachment is a continuous battle. We regularly undertake removal of encroachment. But it seems to be an unending process.

Friday May 25, 2012 4:59 Sanjay Arora

5:00

[Comment From Sri Sri : ]

Congrats to CCTP and all the best for the future.

Friday May 25, 2012 5:00 Sri

5:00

Sanjay Arora:

There is no specific offense for use of cell phone while driving provided in the MV Act. Throughout the country, the use of cell phone while driving is considered to be a rash and negligent act endangering others safety. It is charged under the provisions of driving dangerously. So, it is not an offense at a signal intersection when the vehicle is static.

Friday May 25, 2012 5:00 Sanjay Arora

5:01

Sanjay Arora:

Thank you. Our best wishes to all of you.

Friday May 25, 2012 5:01 Sanjay Arora

5:02

Anand Venkateswaran:

Thank you for your time, Mr. Arora. Thank you all for your active participation.